The Nature Tree

~

I love trees of all sorts and decided to create a Nature tree in the corner of the dining room last year.

 I have previously made one in the entrance hall using parts of an old Christmas tree, but it was a little crowded when more than one person came at a time, especially when winter coats, boots, and packages were involved.

I cut some branches from the garden and formed them into an inside tree instead of using parts of the old Christmas tree.  I gathered up all the little felt birds that I made a few years ago, made some pinecone garlands, some nature related ornaments and added lights.  I will add some of my homemade snowflakes when the Christmas decorations finally get unpacked.

The garlands were so easy to make with pinecones and twine.  I selected pinecones all the same size, some were bleached and some weren’t.  Cut a length of twine and start by knotting it around one pinecone.  Leave a space and tie on another pinecone and continue until the end of the twine.  Make it as long or as short as you wish.  I used spruce cones and pine cones to make three separate garlands.

Ages ago I made larger 5 pointed twig stars for decorating outside.  I just used the same idea and made them small enough for the inside nature tree.  Cut branches all the same thickness (I used lilac twigs), measure so they are all about the same length (about 10 cm)  You put the first two slightly crossing at the top, add another two to the side and the fifth twig connects the side and bottom point.  If you are a visual learner follow the bottom 3 photos above.

The first one I made I used the twine but found it a bit thick and hard to knot, so I switched to using 26 gauge beading wire and found it much easier to twist and fasten the twigs together.

Next to be made were some pinecone ornaments.  I used the tiny little flower type cones from the northern white cedar trees to make these.  They were glued onto an old small ornament that probably came from an old Christmas corsage.  You are in my age bracket if you remember those corsages made with tinsel, cones, ornaments usually on a leaf of some sort.

These tiny ornaments didn’t have any way of hanging them, so I used my trusty method of a button and a hook or fishing line.  I used the top method with fishing line when I made the crafty ornaments and the bottom method with the hook for the pinecone ornaments.  Both methods work really well and can be covered in with what you are adding the the styrofoam ball or the old ornament.

Can you spot the twig stars (wire & twine), the finished pinecone ornament and an acorn cap ornament?

I used a clear ornament, the glue gun, caps from acorns, white glue and glitter to make another ornament for the Nature tree.

Dried orange slices were added this year. These are cut into slices and dried in a 250F oven for 2 to 3 hours. Raffia was threaded through the top to hang.

More new ornaments this year were the wooden disc snowflakes (and the odd tree).

Some of my crochet snowflakes were added to the tree, just to make it look more seasonal. It looks pretty when the timed lights come on in the evening and brightens up a darkish corner in the dining room.

More tree ideas:

Christmas tree ideas:

• ideas for trees
• nature tree
• plastic canvas trees
• sea glass trees
• tree-mendous

This little tree proves you don’t have to spend a fortune on decorations but that you can make your own quite easily just by doing some foraging outside and using a bit of your imagination.